Diggstapo

http://trevorcrookblog.com/2008/10/12/diggstapo-the-term-for-social-medias-gestapo-called-wwwdiggcom/
The following article can be found at the above address


Wikipedia has a meaning for Gestapo Tactics and I have now termed a meaning for Diggstapo Tactics. Before I reveal this to you . . . a little of ToeCracker’s Digg History.

I joined digg in July 2007 and started to become an avid user in late November, digging around 300 stories per day, supporting my friends submissions, commenting and getting front pages stories . . . after making a shit load of mistakes etc.

Digg became like a drug, an addiction to the point, where yes, I was a diggaholic under the under name ToeCracker.

Back in March, I heard of a script which would allow me to digg faster, which from a time management perspective, made a shit load of sense. I also understood this script was part of Digg’s API and as I wasn’t digging anymore stories each day, simply taking back some of my valuable time, I used it.

I had dugg over 66,000 stories, over 1,000 comments and had 149 front page submissions at the time I got my ass banned Friday week ago . . . banned even though I had removed the script approx. 4 weeks earlier when the shit hit the fan and about 80-100 diggers got banned.

When I removed the script, I went back to the labor intensive task of digging the old way, hitting the link, speed reading the description, adding a comment and + others if I chose to. In the prior 4 weeks to getting banned, I had taken time off from nearly all social media to take some ‘ME’ time.

I had 2 short bursts on digg. The 2nd one, only 2 days before I was banned and the actual day before I was banned, I sat there for about an hour, catching up on my diggs to be met with the WARNING:

“Whoa their cowboy, itchy trigger, digging so fast is lame, how about you read some stories” and this pissed me off no end.

How piss weak is a site like digg, when you can digg too fast by hand, I mean What The Fuck! So, I sent an email to digg, asking them to explain why they can dictate to me the time it takes for me to read a description on a story and decide to digg/bury etc. Nothing I was doing was illegal and against their fucked up TOS.

As usual, digg didn’t reply. The next day I was banned without warning and when I emailed them 2 times, I was basically told to go fuck myself and that they suspected I had used a script and banned me, then they pointed me to 2 blog posts about scripts etc.

Their 2nd email suggested they would be going over power profiles logs and deciding if people would be banned.

I admitted to them my error in using a script, which I thought was in terms of their API etc. and as soon as I knew it wasn’t, I removed it. They simply banned me, like they have done to so many others and will continue to do so.

Life goes on and personally digg can go fuck themselves and it seems they are doing a very good job of this anyway . . . just ask Google.

TOECRACKER’S (Crackpedia) MEANING OF ‘DIGGSTAPO’ TACTICS:

“The Diggstapo has the authority to investigate treason, espionage and sabotage cases by way of script usage, and in cases of personal attacks on the Kevin Rose and his bum chums. A law passed by Kevin Rose gives the Diggstapo carte blanche to operate without judicial oversight.

The Diggstapo is specifically exempted from responsibility to administrate correct judgment, answer people with respect and to ban anyone’s ass from digg for absolutely ANY reason or even No reason at all.

The power of the Diggstapo most open to misuse is called ‘BanzingYourAss’ - a euphemism for the power to ban digg users without judicial proceedings or a chance to explain their case. The person banned – simply disappears from Digg without a trace under Diggstapo policy . . . although the Diggstapo team is well aware these banned diggers simply get a new IP address and create a new account where we only have one thing to say to the Diggstapo Team . . . FuckYouDiggstapo!

Life goes on and it has. I will simply do more Mixx, Stumble and Reddit.

Dedicated to kicking your ass until you succeed.

I am so glad that others are finally seeing digg for what it is, and I have a feeling that digg's days are fast becoming numbered, it is fading into the sunset and the way they are operating it seems less and less people are actually going to miss them.

Share and Enjoy!

Digging a Grave

Is digg dying a death ?

It seems that more and more are being banned and more and more of the submissions to this once great site are ‘repeats’ and things that were buried by the now banned members.

To be banned from digg all it takes is to open more than one link at a time, read them all and then digg them, you do not have to use a bot or a script, you do not have to do anything wrong as stated in their term except not follow like a sheep and click one story at a time and then wait an hour before you read the next, I have yet to work out how you can take 5 minutes looking at a picture, you open it, look at it, like or dislike it and move on, 1 minute tops !

I personally know of a family, 3 seperate members who were banned as they were told they were using a script or a bot as the activity on their account was ‘erratic’ They all work so they used to come onto dig at various times during the day, this it seems was classed as ‘erratic’. They also say that you have the right to appeal against a decision, again this is FALSE...... they will not enter into any discussion with a banned member, they have a stock email they send out and will not reconsider even when asked to speak to a supervisor or manager, here is a copy of the mail I received from them ...

Greetings from Digg.com,

We have found activity from your account showing the use of a bot/script/macro to Digg stories, which is explicitly against the Terms of Service (digg.com/tos) you agreed to. The account has been banned permanently, and will not be reinstated.

Because we must be vigilant in protecting against activities that compromise the Digg community, this decision is final and irreversible.

Thank you,

-Digg Support


How is this a discussion ? How is this proper and fair treatment ? As far as I can see its not, they are not prepared to listen to anyone and as such they are starting to dig a grave for themselves, how long before they bury themselves in the hole they are creating ?

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One, Two, Three,Four

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

Wait awhile then digg some more

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

Take a breathe, you need to wait

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

STOP !!!!

OMG you dugg a lot

You have to stop, cease and desist

Or your name goes on the list

You digg and shout as thats the way

Of the social sites today

But unless your part of the inner crew

Then digg’s big brother watches you

He times your diggs, your shouts and submissions

How dare you join the fun with no permission

You too close to the 'famed' front page

Your sending diggers into a rage

But not to worry your submissions canned

And as from now you are banned

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What is going on with Digg ?

What in the world is going on with Digg ? Has anyone else noticed the low numbers now needed to get to the front page ? Where once you needed two of three hundred minimum diggs to get to the holiest of Front Pages now it seems that 100 will do. Something is seriously wrong on this site at the moment.

I was one of the 100 that were banned, now some may have been banned for a reason and some may have deserved to b banned but I did not, I never used a script, a ‘bot’ or any other means to dig a submission, I used my fingers and my eyes and I read them, commented if I had anything to say and then dugg them, yet still I was banned and no reply was forth coming from digg, I have tried on numerous occasions to email them I have asked for the supervisor and I have written and told them my usual dig habits and even my work schedule so they could see that I dug at certain time of the day or evening because of life commitments and still they will not answer me.

I spent a lot of time gathering friends on the site, I painstakingly read their submissions and shouts and dugg them and shouted out to other friends, this is what I was mistakenly under the impression people did for each other on a social site, they socialised and if an article was sent to me that I enjoyed, then I wanted to share it with others, be it a joke, a picture or a blog item, all have their ways of improving someones day.

I will admit that I have opened another account on digg and have at the moment got 97 friends, not too many and not too few but it seems that although they are happy to send shouts out asking for a digg on a certain post or for me to shout something for them, they are unwilling to do the same for others, again this is showing on the front page numbers, so I ask the question why do they want to be friends ? This never happened before, everyone was more than happy to shout and dig for another but looking at the quality of articles now being submitted and the amount of re posts it seems the ones who were banned might actually have been amongst those who were keeping dig in the social media spot light.

A lot has been said about the famous inner circle and yes I agree that if they are ‘cheating’ the system and being given special treatment then they need to go BUT for the ones banned that were not doing anything wrong then this is grossly unfair and something needs to change in the way they determine who is doing what and how. Take a look at the front page, you will see what I am talking about, there are fewer and fewer things being dug and fewer and fewer good stories being submitted, unfortunately as it stand at the moment then reddit has the lead on digg, a big lead that is going to take months to recover from unless something is done and done soon.

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The Digg Controversy

Seems that the Digg controversy continues. There is a rift between the people who are viewed as manipulating the system by using scripts and those who want everyone banned. One of my last pieces was about the sissies who have only cybercourage. These people are as destructive to Digg as the ones who try to manipulate the system.

The bottom line is Digg truly has no idea who is using scripts. They claim to be hitting people based upon the suspicion of it. This from an organization which prides itself on being a democracy. I guess we cannot expect anything more from a bunch of flaming liberals. The accusations that Digg is in cahoots with the DNC was furthered by their interview with Nancy Pelosi. This organization is about as democratic as Red China.

Digg went through and banned a number of its top users. However, it seems most were in the middle of their top 1,000. Very few elite diggers were hit. This is cause to believe they are in bed with the Digg organization. I can see why some of the other people are whining. They feel it unfair that the top diggers use scripts (or blind diggs) when they abide by the rules. It would seem that they have a valid point in a democratic organization. Of course, if these people want fairness, they need to go to StumbleUpon. Digg is anything but that.

For all who are interested, here is a list of the Top 1,000 on Digg and what happened to them.

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